The Evolutionary Earth Part Two - Evolution of the Geological Earth, through biogeochemical cycling, and Gaia Theory Lynn S. Fichter - Fichtels@jmu.edu James Madison University; 7100A Memorial Hall - phone 6531

This test is organized in a very similar way to test one. The sample below will give you more insight into how to prepare. Sample Test #2   > Test Illustrations

Power Point Presentations 12 - The Earth's First Billion Years - 4.5 - 3.5; reconstructing what it would be like to live on Earth at the beginning. 13 - Archaean Crustal Evolution - from volcanic arcs, to protocontinents, to microcontinents. The growth of the North American Continent as an example of continental growth. 14 - Supercontinent Cycles - Earth history has been a succession of individual continents colliding to form supercontinents, then rifting apart to form isolated continents again. This record can be traced back through at least half the Earth 4 billion year history. The two most recent supercontinents are Rodinia (~700 mya), and Pangaea (320 -248 mya). Most of these slides animate the continuous shifting of the continents. The topographic relief maps come from Ron Blakly at Northern Arizona University. 15 - Wilson Cycles - Wilson cycles are one of the most important models we have for modeling the Earth. It is on par with Bowen's Reaction Series, another iconic model with powerful insights into how the Earth works. 16 - Contemporary Earth Tectonics - if one is interested in the Earth for the Earth's sake, then knowing stuff about plate tectonics might be interesting in and of itself. Its practical value is knowing just what kind of problems you might have to deal with when living or traveling to various parts of the world. 17 - Atmospheric Evolution - what makes the Earth such a unique planet is the fact it has life on it, not just because there is life, however, but because that life is the mediator facilitating the movement of many elements through all the systems, including carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and others. Thus, the Earth is a bio-geo-chemical system, and the only way it can be understood is by knowing the links among the various systems. 18 - Biogeochemical Cycling - 19 - Its the System ! - the system, we keep talking about the system. But, just was it a system. As we observed the term system has become a buzz word. It is sexy to talk about "the system." But, there are systems and then there are systems. We use the term system in a very specific way that is rooted in chaos and complex systems theory, and we need to clearly understand what we mean by the term system. 20 - Gaia Theory - END TEST UNIT TWO

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